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Well, maybe not a “video” game, but an iOS app that simulates a shooting range. You don’t shoot “live” targets, but you do shoot pixels. Since you don’t really shoot “live” targets in any video game it makes one wonder why this app is any different than any other violent game…beyond the fact that this game offers up handy little safety tips.

“NRA: Practice Range also offers a 3D shooting game that instills safe and responsible ownership through fun challenges and realistic simulations,” reads the app’s description. “It strikes the right balance of gaming and safety education, allowing you to enjoy the most authentic experience possible.”

Really, though, whether we want to call shenanigans on the NRA or not, this game is up against stiff competition. Last year alone we saw some really excellent first-person shooters, and none of them—so far as I recall—are as boring as this game appears to be.

Then again, maybe I’m just biased against hypocrisy.

P.S. I’m all for gun safety, I’m just not sure that the best way to learn about gun safety is via your smartphone. Sometimes there really isn’t an app for that.

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While I think the NRA’s attempt to pin the blame on video games was completely asinine, I don’t really see a similarity between a virtual shooting range and, say, Call of Duty. The NRA wants people to own actual guns that they take to actual shooting ranges. They are not advocating actually going around and shooting real people (unless it’s a rare case of self defense) with those guns. So why would it be a problem to have a virtual shooting range? I don’t agree with their position on video games, but I at least understand what they’re talking about. Their argument is that video games (specifically, first person shooters) desensitize people to violence and make it easier for them to commit violent acts. I don’t agree with that, but that’s the argument. The key there is that this app involves shooting virtual targets, not virtual people. I don’t find their approval of this to be intellectually inconsistent with their ignorant stance on video games. I don’t think they’re offering this as a substitute for a real range (which has to be the best way to get used to shooting real guns, something I’m sure the NRA also believes) either, more like a supplement or just a mindless diversion. This app might be a waste of time, but it’s not offensive or hypocritical.

I’m British but were I an American gun owner I would want to distance myself from this bunch of idiotic hypocrites as fast as possible. They are a genuine embarrassment and find new ways to make themselves look stupid on a regular basis, and I for one am looking forward to the next instalment of the NRA roadshow. No doubt there will be some hilariously hypocritical nonsense spouted by a suit wearing clown with webbed toes.

You don’t see the difference between target shooting and hunting down and shooting people? Really? “There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people through vicious, violent video games with names like ‘Bulletstorm,’ ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ ‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Splatterhouse,’” said NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre during a news conference that was interrupted by protesters.

Oh sure, in real life there’s a very big difference. In games, both actions are just puzzle solving. Gamers don’t shoot people in a game and think they’re shooting people in real life. It’s just a moving target that is likely shooting back at you. In a game.

Erik, Life and games are about achieving goals. The goal of some games is kill “images” of people and the goal of the NRA game is to shoot a target. In real life the former is not acceptable and latter is heavily prometed by ther NRA.

People shoot at silhouette targets to practice defensive shooting. These aren’t moving targets with a face and blood and a gun to shoot back with. It is not a kill or be killed situation like many video games portray. So you have a problem with people practicing defensive shooting on pieces of paper in a controlled environment?

I’m not at all saying first person shooter games are a major problem in the World. But I also don’t lump the NRA’s new game into the same catagory are Call Of Duty and other similar games.

“[...] it makes one wonder why this app is any different than any other violent game [...]” What do you mean by “ any OTHER violent game”? Are you implying that someone target practicing in their back yard is violence? If not, then why are you implying that this game is violent?

Let me break it down for you: many other FPS games simulate shooting other people, often with added blood and gore for good measure. That’s how it’s different. You’re either exceptionally unintelligent, or you’re so ridiculously anti gun that you’re reaching really hard for a spin on this one. Possibly both.